Walker On Trial
by pbow
Summary: Does anyone besides me think Warden Walker oversteps his authority whenever he deals with Danny Phantom and his friends? Well, here's what happened when a few of the characters do.


Disclaimer: Of course I lay no claim to owning the characters from the series **Danny Phantom** and receive nothing for writing these awesome stories. I only write to get these stories off my mind and see what others think about my twisted sense of humor.

A/N: Who else, besides me, believes Warden Walker overstepped his authority when he dealt with Danny Phantom in the two episodes **Prisoner of Love** and **Public Enemy**? Well, Danny, Sam and Tucker think like I do and are taking action.

Xxxxxx

It was a normal Thursday evening in the Ghost Zone as the Observant Tribunal High Council sat in row upon row, almost filling all four walls of the room. One of their members was at a floating podium in the center of the room; The one-eye-for-a-head Ghost patiently waiting for the two small groups in front of him to settle down before he started the trial.

Sitting at the Defense table to the right front of the presiding Observant was the large ghostly form of Walker, the Warden of the Ghost Zone Prison, and his right-hand man, Bullet.

At the Prosecution's table to left front of the Observant stood Danny Phantom, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley.

The three teens were obviously nervous while Walker was calm, almost smug; His usual overconfident, arrogant demeanor.

The head Observant moderately glanced between the two groups before he looked back to the teens and slowly and deliberately spoke, "You wish to file a formal complaint against Warden Walker. State your case."

As Tucker and Sam took their seats behind the table, Danny stepped around it, said a silent 'thank you' to his sister Jazz for helping him with the proper procedures and language used in a normal court of law, (though there wasn't anything normal about this court or these proceedings) and spoke, "If it would please the High Council, we would like to formally charge Warden Walker with misuse of the law and operating outside his prescribed area and duties. His job is warden of the prison, not a police officer for the entire Ghost Zone and the Human Realm."

Tucker quietly snickered, "Danny said doodys." That earned him a swift yet powerful elbow to his ribs from the somber appearing Goth Girl sitting next to him.

"Sir," Walker blatantly cut in, disdain for the proceedings evident in his voice, "this whole trial is just another attempt for that," he angrily pointed to Danny Phantom, "that vile _scum_ from serving out the life sentence he received almost a year ago."

The Observant obviously wasn't having any of Walker's tactics as he calmly said, "Sit down, please. You will get your turn. Don't interrupt these proceedings again."

Walker grumbled, but obeyed the Head Observant's order. The ghostly head of the trial turned back to Danny and nodded, "Please continue."

"Thank you, sir," Danny replied before he nodded to Tucker, indicating he should start the slide and video presentation they'd painstakingly created over the past month specifically for this trial. Unfortunately they didn't have any video from Danny's first two run-ins with Walker; The first when the half ghost boy had been sent into the Zone in the Spectral Speeder when his dad slammed his fist against the vehicle, then later when he'd accidentally zapped his dad's anniversary gift for his mother into the Ghost Zone while cleaning the lab and he went in to retrieve it. Hence, the three of them had spent days meticulously drawing up sketches of what'd happened during the two encounters.

Fortunately, they _had_ obtained video of the major run-in with Walker when the Warden had tried to frame Danny later that year. Walker and his men had overshadowed a few people: Mayor Montez, Mr. Lancer, Dash Baxter, Paulina Sanchez and Principal Ishiyama among them, and made it look like Danny was trying to harm the Mayor and stir up things.

City Hall and the surrounding stores were riff with surveillance cameras and it had been as easy as pie for Tucker to hack all of the systems and dub off enough video (while using special filters so the overshadowing ghosts could also be seen) to show what had really happened. 'Anonymous' dubs of the video had been sent to the Amity Park City Council and all the local TV stations, which ultimately vindicated Danny Phantom from any wrongdoings during the incident.

After briefly glossing over the first two encounters, Danny started the main portion of their presentation.

"As you can see," Danny said as everyone watched the video of what went on in City Hall, "Warden Walker isn't afraid to conduct _illegal_ operations outside his jurisdiction, the Ghost Zone's prison. He blatantly put the people of Amity Park in danger and destroyed property so he could frame me for something I would _never_ do. Walker was trying to smear my name and reputation in a town I've sworn to protect; To force me into the Ghost Zone so I'd be easier to capture and thrown in his prison." The video ended with an older clip of the perky local newswoman telling her audience about the plummeting popularity ratings for Danny Phantom, complete with a pie chart superimposed on the screen over her shoulder. Then another video clip of the same newscaster later vindicating Phantom followed before the visual presentation ended.

Danny paced a bit as he continued his practiced speech. "I've watched as Warden Walker, on more than one occasion, wrote new rules in his book to justify his perverse view of justice; New rules that only pertain to the person he's trying to humiliate and make bow down before him."

Danny stopped his pacing and faced the council again as he stated, "Now I've checked with quite a few ghosts in the Zone and found out that there isn't an actual set of rules or laws here; That Walker only makes them up as he sees fit. That's not the way things are supposed to happen in the Zone. If a dispute occurs between two Ghosts, a panel of bystanders is quickly assembled and they hear both side of the argument. They then discuss it and come up with a fair verdict that settles the matter. If that doesn't work out, then they bring the case to you to decide. But Walker's obsession with rules is creating more havoc in the Ghost Zone which lets him arrest and imprison Ghosts at his discretion. As I stated before, Walker is the prison _warden_ , not a cop."

Danny walked back over to the prosecution table and accepted a piece of paper from Sam before he turned back to address the council. He held the paper up and said, "We've done a little research and found out about Walker's previous human life." Danny brought the paper down and started to read. "Clifford Walker worked as a Texas Ranger out of the same office as his brother, Cordell, who was also a Ranger. Both were devoted to their work but Clifford started to take his job a little too serious. He would take justice into his own hands and occasionally, without provocation, beat up a suspect before bringing them in for interrogation and arrest. It all came to a head when he got angry with a suspect and killed the guy in cold blood in a fit of rage. Unfortunately for Walker, it happened just outside a convenience store and surveillance cameras got everything on tape. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to prison for twenty years." Danny let out a light chuckle as he added, "Ironically, he was later killed by a few of the prisoners who he had previously arrested."

Walker suddenly rose from his seat, slammed his hands down flat on the table and growled, "That _punk_ deserved everything that happened to him. He deserved to die for the crime he perpetrated."

Sam stood from her chair, turned on the Warden and almost yelled, "He was only selling pirated movie videos. That's a crime, but it only brings a large fine and maybe a few years in jail, not prison. And it _certainly_ doesn't warrant the death penalty which _you_ implemented."

Before Walker could reply, Danny stepped up to the High Council and loudly said, "As you can see, Walker's overzealous obsession with rules has carried over to his current Ghost form and it's only grown more intense. It's escalated to the point that he has his own prison, his own rules book, his own crew of bad-ass Ghost that follow his every order, and he pursues Ghosts out of his jurisdiction for no other reason than to cause chaos."

Again Walker jumped up from his seat and yelled, "My job is to prevent chaos. Not start it!"

Danny turned to the nattily dressed black and white Ghost and slyly asked, "So you didn't send your men to the Human Realm to cause havoc and mayhem?" He turned to the skeletal form of Bullitt and queried, "Did, or did not Walker _specifically_ tell Wulf to enter the Human World with you and his other men to quote, 'cause a little havoc?' end quote."

Bullitt nervously glanced to his boss. Walker didn't stir at all, simply glaring at Danny like he wanted the Ghost Boy to spontaneously combust or something similar. Bullitt looked down at his skinless hands folded on the table and simply nodded his bony head with a guilty look on his skeletal face.

Danny smugly folded his arms across his chest and, as he walked back behind the prosecution table, said, "I don't know about the Ghost Zone, but in the Real World creating havoc is the _opposite_ of bringing about Justice. If you ask me, I think Warden Walker has violated quite a few rules himself and needs to be locked up in his own prison."

Danny leaned on the tabletop as he concluded, "Walker once told me, and I again quote, 'I am your judge, executioner, jury, executioner, jailer and if necessary; your executioner.' That seems to be _waaaaay_ outside the law. Being judge, jury, jailer and executioner is so outside the normal way of thinking that we believe Walker has set himself up as a god or something who only answers to his own perverse ideals of what's right and wrong. I rest my case." Danny quickly sat down and received a fist bump from Tucker, and a loving, congratulatory pat on the shoulder along with a proud beaming smile from Sam.

The Observant at the podium slightly bowed to Danny Phantom as he said, "We are quite aware of all the events you've mentioned since we observe everything as it happens. But your presentation was most considerate."

The Ghost with an eyeball for a head turned to Walker and asked, "Do you deny any of the allegations?"

"I do _not_ ," Warden Walker practically growled in anger as he swiftly arose from his seat and circled the defense table to face the Observants. "Rules are rules and must be enforced by any means possible. That _punk_ ," he again jabbed a pointing finger in Danny's direction, "brought unauthorized human material into the Ghost Zone... _Twice._ The first time I let him go with a simple warning. The second, I sent him to prison for one thousand years. While serving his time there, he started a riot letting most of the prisoners escape. A _nother_ violation of the rules."

Tucker spoke up and asked, "Why is human things unauthorized in the Ghost Zone? For example, everybody knows that when you lose a sock or something in the laundry, it ends up here. There must be millions of lost human things that make there way into the Ghost Zone."

If Walker wasn't a Ghost and had actual blood circulating in his veins, he probably would've appeared red in the face from his intense anger. He ignored Tuck's question, took a few calming breaths before he indignantly continued "I found out later that _punk_ Phantom is only half ghost. That's why he was able to escape _my_ prison."

"Excuse me," Sam Manson said as she swiftly stood, "but I'd like to point out Walker doesn't _own_ the prison. It belongs to the Ghost Zone so he shouldn't call it _his_ prison."

"It's just a figure of speech," Walker smugly answered with a flippant wave of the hand, obviously dismissing the point as being inconsequential. "I run it, I'm in charge. Therefore it's _my_ prison."

The Warden quickly moved on to prevent any further debate on the matter.

"To continue, the _punk_ then..."

Walker was interrupted when Danny stood and almost hollered, "I object! This is a tribunal court of law and Walker is continually insulting me by calling me a punk. He obviously doesn't believe in the rules of this court enough to show common courtesy during these proceedings. He didn't even stand up when the court came into session."

Walker roared, "You don't deserve any respect, _punk_!"

Tucker begged in amusement, "Does anybody deserve respect, in you opinion?"

" _Nobody_ deserves my respect! You're _all_ a bunch of punks and should be incarcerated for the rest of your miserable existences!"

The Head Observant spoke, a sharp tone in his voice for the first time in a very long time. "It's obvious from your statement that you feel the same way about the Observants. Therefore, you are relieved of your duties as the Warden of the Ghost Zone Prison and shall be turned over to Clockwork who will see to your punishment."

A transparent tube swiftly arose from the floor, encasing Walker and sealing him in so he couldn't cause any more trouble. (Just like what had happened to Vortex.)

The Observant turned to the prosecution table and slightly bowed to the three teens as he said, "We thank you for bringing this problem to our attention, although we already knew of it. You are all released from any and all persecution from the defendant. Thank you for your time."

"No sir, thank you," Danny replied in relief, bowing to the High Council.

Xxxxx

As the three teens left the council chamber, Tucker Foley lightly chuckled, "Well, that finally got one annoying Ghost out of our hair for good."

"Yeah," Danny agreed as the teens arrived at the Spectral Speeder for their return trip to the Human World and he changed to his human form. "That was fun, especially since I didn't have to fight him."

Sam stopped in her tracks as she pondered aloud, "I wonder where Clockwork will keep Walker?"

Tucker let out a light laugh as he playfully poked Danny and postulated, "Maybe he'll toss Walker in with Dark Dan. Can you imagine those two going at it while locked in a Fenton Thermos?"

"Nah," Sam seriously waved off Tucker's suggestion with a sour face. "The thermos wouldn't last ten seconds. Maybe he'll send them both to Dark Dan's alternate universe and let 'em duke it out there."

"Or maybe..." Tucker said before laughing so hard it took him a couple of seconds to regain some control. "Maybe they'll throw Walker in his own prison and let the prisoners look after him."

All three teens laughed at the thought. Sam finally said through her diminishing giggles, "Now _that_ would be poetic justice."

"I don't really care," Danny said with a smile, still enjoying the outcome of the trial, as he opened the hatch door to the vehicle that would return them to the Human Realm. He held the door open, grandly bowed and motioned for Sam to enter first, saying, "Your chariot awaits, M'Lady. After you."

Sam warmly smiled and blushed at Danny's gentlemanly gesture before wordlessly entering the Speeder and taking her seat at the controls.

Tucker Foley was the next to enter the vehicle and half-jokingly begged, "So you finally noticed Sam's a girl? When are you two gonna have the wedding ceremony?"

"Wha? I-I-I," the half Ghost boy stuttered and blushed the color of an overripe tomato, unable to move a step.

"Come on, Clueless," Tucker grabbed Danny by the arm and dragged him into the Spectral Speeder, sitting him in the seat next to Sam. "We don't wanna stay in the Ghost Zone all night. We got school in the morning."

Danny noticed that Sam had obviously heard Tuck's comment, her face matching his in color. Finally able to gather his wits and hoping Sam would take it as a joke, Danny laughed, "Well, I don't think it'd be such a bad thing to be married to Sam." He turned to the Goth Girl and queried, "Whatdaya think? Should we set a date?"

Sam wearily peered over at the guy she'd had a crush on for the longest time wondering if he was serious. To test the waters and flirt with him a little, she suggested, "Maybe we should go on one date before we set a wedding date... Just to make sure we're compatible."

Danny was stunned by her reply. Was she serious? She'd always denied it whenever they were called lovebirds, just like he did. But now she was saying they should go on one date, then get married.

Danny _did_ have strong feelings for Sam. In fact, those feelings could be called love. (With maybe a bit of lust thrown in. He was a teenage boy after all.) As much as he'd always denied it, he'd be ecstatic if they did become lovebirds.

But Danny had always hidden his feels because he didn't think Sam felt the same way toward him. But then again, maybe she was doing the same thing.

Whoa, there's a thought.

Well, he and Sam had started flirting on the ride home so Danny decided to continue. He happily chirped, "You know what? I think I'd like that."

Sam wasn't expecting that kind of response from her longtime friend. Normally he'd blush and clam up or start to uncontrollably stutter before finally gaining a bit of control and shoot down such a proposal.

Sam had been hiding her feeling for her male friend for the longest time, thinking he didn't feel the same way she did. But she thought if he actually did, it could lead to something wonderful.

Sam thought back on her first real boyfriend, Gregor, and the way Danny had acted during those few days before they found out he was a poser, only pretending to be a foreign exchange student. Danny had acted like he was jealous for her dating another guy. He denied it, of course, claiming he was only looking out for a friend.

But thinking back on it now, Sam could see that Danny had been bitten by the proverbial green-eyed monster: Envy.

Bitten bad!

Quickly decided that it'd be worth taking a shot, Sam boldly asked, "Okay. So, what should we do tomorrow night for a date?"

Tucker was thrilled and thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle unfolding in the front seat. His two friends were finally, _finally_ getting together as a couple. He'd called them lovebirds on so many occasions that he probably sounded like a broken record... Or maybe they just tuned him out.

Both Danny and Sam had each confessed their feelings of the other to him, so he knew they each loved the other. But sometimes they could both be so clueless, so he suggested, "Why don't you take in a movie tomorrow? My uncle and his family are coming for a visit so I'll be busy with family stuff all weekend."

"I did just receive a copy of that new action flick that won't be out in the theaters for another month," Sam informed her two friends. "And my parents are out of town 'til the end of next week." (Both Danny and Tucker knew Sam had the connections and the money to get a hold of a copy of any movie, even if it hadn't premiered in the theaters yet.)

This was all happening too fast for Danny but it _was_ something he'd dreamed of. Sam seemed to want to get together with him as a couple as much as he did. "That sounds okay. So, it'll be just you and me at your place after school?"

Always the confident one, Sam smiled and said, "It's a date."

Danny, not wanting to leave his best guy friend out of the mix, asked, "Is that okay with you, Tuck? You might suddenly get fed up with your relative and want to bail on them. If so, you could always come hang with us."

Tucker had been busy doing something on his PDA but swiftly looked up at the two teens in the front seat and anxiously yelled, "NO!" He quickly got his wits about him and nervously continued, "I mean no, that's alright. If my uncle's family gets on my nerves I can always slip out to Nasty Burger for something to eat and calm down. As a matter of fact, I might just do that anyway." He quickly buried himself in his PDA to avoid any more conversations.

Sam, not paying attention to the conversation between Tucker and Danny, put her cellphone away and said to Danny, "I just talked to Jazz. She sez your parents are still out of town at that ghost hunting convention so we're clear to return to the lab and they won't know we went into the Ghost Zone."

After they'd stopped in the basement lab of Fenton Works, Tucker almost tripped coming out of the Spectral Speeder, he was so into whatever he was doing on his PDA that he hadn't been watching where he stepped. Sam queried, "What are you so engrossed with, Tucker?"

"Are you playing the latest version of Doomed?" Danny asked.

"No, no," Tucker said with a huge smile as he finished whatever he was doing with a flourish and tucked his PDA into a pocket. "I was just mass texting everyone at school. They all wanted to know when you two finally got together as a couple and I was just letting them know."

Sam cautiously queried, "Why would anyone want to know that Danny and I got together as a couple?"

"Don't you know?" Tuck begged in amazement. He guessed they were both equally clueless, so he informed them, "You two have been the hot topic of who would eventually get together with who for over a year. Everyone thought you'd start dating long before now. That's why Dash and Paulina have been calling you 'lovebirds', too." He quickly made for the stairs and added over his shoulder, "Now if you don't mind, Jazz wants me to tell her about any developments in your relationship right away." He swiftly disappeared up the staircase to the kitchen.

Danny and Sam were a bit stunned to hear that everyone at school wanted to know about their relationship. The Goth Girl muttered, "That is soooo..."

The Half Ghost Boy completed her sentence, "...wrong."

"I was gonna say 'sick'," Sam lightly chuckled at how in-tune she and Danny were, "but I can go along with wrong."

"Yeah," Danny laughed along. "It's sick and wrong. I suppose now everyone will start wondering when we'll get married."

"Either that, or," Sam's countenance darkened, her usual Goth demeanor, "they start placing bets on when we'll break up."

The two sixteen year olds stood for a moment pondering over the gossip that'll be surrounding them tomorrow at school. Neither like the idea that they will be the hot topic at Casper High, but what could they do about it.

Sam let out a light giggle before saying, "Well, we could get married right away. That'll really give them something to talk about."

"That sure would," Danny happily agreed, thinking about how the school would be in an uproar if they showed up at school tomorrow with gold bands on the left ring fingers. There was one flaw in that concept, and Danny had to point it out. "But we're not old enough to get married. Don't ya gotta be eighteen to legally get married?"

"Not really," Sam said with a sly smile. "You know my Nana likes you. Well, when I turned sixteen she told me I could now legally get married to you in the state of Texas. The only requirement is that we have our parent's written permission." (Watch the episode "Urban Growth" and notice where the plants start to spread out from. It's either SW Louisiana or SE Texas.)

A feminine voice gayly wafted down the stairs, followed by Danny's sister, Jazz, as she said, "I think mom and dad would approve of you two getting married. They'd probably think it'd settle you down a bit, Little Brother. Your grades have slipped ever since you got your ghost powers so they want you to settle down a bit, and getting married might just be the thing."

When the slim redhead reached the new couple, she threw her arms around Sam in a huge hug and exclaimed, "Welcome to the family."

Sam genially accepted the embrace for only a second before she pushed her way out of it and said, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Jazz. My mom and dad hate your family, especially after the Circus Gothica incident, and won't allow it."

"Yeah," Danny agreed. He informed his sister, "They've already told me they'll get a restraining order if I upset Sam at all."

Jazz dejectedly moaned, "I guess there's nothing you can do."

Sam wickedly smiled as she grabbed Danny's hand and headed for the stair out of the lab. She evilly stated, "Come on Danny. There _is_ something we _can_ do."

"What's that?" Jazz questioned.

"You'll See," Sam hollered over her shoulder as the two teens disappeared up the steps.

Xxxxxx

 **The Next Day at School**

As predicted, the only topic of conversation the entire student body, as well as quite a few teachers, would talk about was the coupling of Samantha Manson and Daniel Fenton.

Dash was overheard whispering to Kwan, "I bet Fen-Tard won't last a week with her."

Paulina was heard gossiping with her friend Star. "Why would any boy want to go out with that Goth Chick? Her style is so from the eighties and she can't pull it off, anyway."

The entire hallway, if not the whole school, went silent as Sam and Danny walked in. Danny had his left arm wrapped around Sam's back, his left fingers intertwined with her left and set against her hip. Sam's right arm was around Danny's middle with her right hand snugged in his right back pocket. The smiles on their two faces spoke only of bliss as they lovingly stared into the other's eyes.

Tucker Foley mutely followed his two friends into the hallway, a look of utter shock on his face as he continually glanced at the couple's intertwined left hands. That brought the attention of everyone else to the couple's hands where a glint of gold could occasionally be seen on the ring fingers of both teens.

The students and few teachers in the hallway were simply stunned by the implication.

Danny and Sam bypassed their lockers and headed for class as the first bell rang, starting the school day. That broke the others in the hallway out of their stupor and sent them scurrying to class.

Mr. Lancer was unusually late to class by only two or three minutes and only because he had his face buried in the latest novel. But while his whole focus was on the book in hand, trying to finish the current riveting chapter before starting class, he was brought out of his concentration by the deafening silence in the classroom.

Lancer slowly closed the book, carefully marking the page, and cautiously glanced around the room in shock when he noticed that all of the students were quietly staring in wide-eyed wonder at two of their classmates... who only had eyes for each other. In fact he was so shocked Lancer didn't call out the title of a classic novel, his normal mode of expressing astonishment.

The shock was because of who the two students were. It wasn't the normal couples like Dash Baxter and Paulina Sanchez, but Danny Fenton and Samantha Manson. Two students who have denied time and again that they were not lovebirds.

Yet here they were in full-out lovebird mode.

Lancer also noted the gold wedding bands on their left ring fingers, something that was far from the norm for kids as young as they are.

Indignantly, Mr. Lancer raised to his full height and stated, "Mr. Fenton, Miss Manson, come out in the hallway. I need to talk to you."

The two teens, not taking their loving gaze off one another, followed Mr. Lancer out into the hallway. Only after the door shut behind them did they seem to return to normal and look to their teacher. Sam politely begged, "What do you need to talk to us about?"

"I..." Mr. Lancer immediately noticed the change in demeanor with the two teens. They no longer looked at each other in rapt attention but appeared to be their normal selves. Gathering his wits, he pressed on. "...I was curious about what was happening in the room. Everyone else was staring at you two, and you both seem to be wearing wedding rings. What gives?"

"Oh, these?" Danny laughed as he held up his left hand and wiggled his ring finger. "It was Sam's idea."

The Goth Girl explained, "We finally realized our mutual feelings for each other and knew it would cause a minor uproar in school today, so I decided to take it a step further." She gazed at the gold band as she continued, "I wanted to see how everyone would react if they thought we'd gotten married. You can call it a little psychological experiment, if you'd like."

"Our rings are only promissory," Danny continued, "and we're acting all lovey-dovey to see how everyone will react."

"That's a relief," Lancer muttered under his breath before straightening up and stating in his normally loud voice. "That's an interesting experiment. I'll tell you what. When the experiment is complete, write up your findings and I'll accept it as extra credit. Now, let's go back into class and start the day."

Before opening the door, Danny took Sam's hand in his and put on a goofy smile while Sam's loving gaze returned.

After all, they were getting extra credit for acting like lovebirds.

Xxxxx

No, I didn't died, tho I sometimes feel like death warmed over. My job has been keeping me _extremely_ busy and I haven't had much time to write. Working ten hour days, six days a week has really throws off the time I'd set aside to write, but I finally gathered enough to finish this little tale.

I hope you've enjoyed this little twist on the DP realm.

pbow


End file.
